Greywander
2021-02-24, 06:20 PM
If a tiefling caster takes the Flames of Phlegethos feat, should they take Fire Bolt as their primary damage cantrip?
I was going to type out a bunch of boring logic and reasons, but I'll skip all that and cut straight to my conclusion: Flames of Phlegethos probably shouldn't influence which damage cantrip you choose. If you were going to take Fire Bolt anyway, great; you just made a strong cantrip stronger. If you weren't going to take Fire Bolt, Flames of Phlegethos does nothing to address the reasons for not taking it. That said, if you don't take Fire Bolt, you should reconsider if you should take Flames of Phlegethos in the first place.
Fire Bolt is a fairly popular damage cantrip; it does have higher damage than most other cantrips, after all. However, I usually skip over it in favor of something else, for two reasons: (a) there are a lot of monsters that are resistant or immune to fire, and (b) cantrip damage is pretty mediocre anyway, so I'm more interested in useful rider effects. It's also worth noting that riders still trigger even if the cantrip deals no damage; for example, Ray of Frost will still slow down enemies that are immune to cold damage. This means even when an enemy is resistant or immune, you can still contribute to the battle.
As an example, I've been looking at a winged tiefling Artillerist artificer build. The Artillerist gets lots of nice fire spells, including the almighty Fireball, so Flames of Phlegethos is pretty appealing. However, I'm leaning more toward Thorn Whip as my damage cantrip, for a few different reasons. First, thorn whip is a melee attack with a 30 foot range. This is mostly a novelty right now, but it does mean I can attack in close quarters without a penalty. Second, it deals piercing damage. Magical BPS damage is probably the most reliable damage type in the game, with almost nothing resistant to it. Third is the rider that pulls the enemy closer to you. By itself, this is a situationally useful rider; casters don't often want enemies to be closer to them. But for a flying character, the nature of this rider transforms radically. Instead of pulling enemies closer, it's more liking picking them up and dropping them (strictly speaking, they'll only take fall damage if you pull them straight up, as pulling at an angle will result in a fall of less than 10 feet). Flying also makes it easier to position yourself so you can pull an enemy where you want them.
So which is better? Flying just high enough to stay out of melee range, yoinking enemies around the battlefield, into hazards, or just straight up so they take fall damage? Or Fire Bolt? Now, if I can, I might try to also get Fire Bolt, say, from Spell Sniper, but usually I'd rather have another utility cantrip than another damage cantrip.
I should also mention that Create Bonfire doesn't work as an alternative to Fire Bolt due to the concentration requirement; most of the time you'll be concentrating on a leveled spell instead. It does make a great backup concentration spell if you run out of spell slots or don't feel like casting a leveled spell.
I was going to type out a bunch of boring logic and reasons, but I'll skip all that and cut straight to my conclusion: Flames of Phlegethos probably shouldn't influence which damage cantrip you choose. If you were going to take Fire Bolt anyway, great; you just made a strong cantrip stronger. If you weren't going to take Fire Bolt, Flames of Phlegethos does nothing to address the reasons for not taking it. That said, if you don't take Fire Bolt, you should reconsider if you should take Flames of Phlegethos in the first place.
Fire Bolt is a fairly popular damage cantrip; it does have higher damage than most other cantrips, after all. However, I usually skip over it in favor of something else, for two reasons: (a) there are a lot of monsters that are resistant or immune to fire, and (b) cantrip damage is pretty mediocre anyway, so I'm more interested in useful rider effects. It's also worth noting that riders still trigger even if the cantrip deals no damage; for example, Ray of Frost will still slow down enemies that are immune to cold damage. This means even when an enemy is resistant or immune, you can still contribute to the battle.
As an example, I've been looking at a winged tiefling Artillerist artificer build. The Artillerist gets lots of nice fire spells, including the almighty Fireball, so Flames of Phlegethos is pretty appealing. However, I'm leaning more toward Thorn Whip as my damage cantrip, for a few different reasons. First, thorn whip is a melee attack with a 30 foot range. This is mostly a novelty right now, but it does mean I can attack in close quarters without a penalty. Second, it deals piercing damage. Magical BPS damage is probably the most reliable damage type in the game, with almost nothing resistant to it. Third is the rider that pulls the enemy closer to you. By itself, this is a situationally useful rider; casters don't often want enemies to be closer to them. But for a flying character, the nature of this rider transforms radically. Instead of pulling enemies closer, it's more liking picking them up and dropping them (strictly speaking, they'll only take fall damage if you pull them straight up, as pulling at an angle will result in a fall of less than 10 feet). Flying also makes it easier to position yourself so you can pull an enemy where you want them.
So which is better? Flying just high enough to stay out of melee range, yoinking enemies around the battlefield, into hazards, or just straight up so they take fall damage? Or Fire Bolt? Now, if I can, I might try to also get Fire Bolt, say, from Spell Sniper, but usually I'd rather have another utility cantrip than another damage cantrip.
I should also mention that Create Bonfire doesn't work as an alternative to Fire Bolt due to the concentration requirement; most of the time you'll be concentrating on a leveled spell instead. It does make a great backup concentration spell if you run out of spell slots or don't feel like casting a leveled spell.